Friday, June 17, 2016

As if Orlando wasn't going through enough already, now we'll have to deal with one more thing this weekend: the Westboro Baptist Church.

The infamous congregation, known for protesting the funerals of LGBTQ people, is coming to Cathedral Church of Saint Luke on Magnolia Avenue this Saturday to protest the funeral of two victims killed in the mass shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse, according to a statement from the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida.

Orlando Police, which previously said the church told them they were not coming, said on Twitter on Thursday that Westboro applied for a permit and sent them a letter. On its Twitter account, the Westboro church says "God Sent the Shooter to Orlando Nightclub."

Westboro update: OPD received a letter from WBC today saying they intend to be here 6/18 to demonstrate. Not clear how many plan to come

Terry DeCarlo, executive director of the GLBT Center, says the permit request is from Saturday, June 18 at 10:15 a.m. to Sunday, June 19 at 1:30 a.m. on 130 North Magnolia Ave. DeCarlo asks the community to form a counter protest and to "remember that this organization funds itself by antagonizing grieving communities and subjecting them to hate speech in order to generate lawsuits."

"Let’s shower them with our love," DeCarlo says. "We have the ability to counter this hate and show the world once again why we are the City Beautiful and we cannot be broken by hate and those that would challenge our way of life."